The Secret Garden

Sub Rosa

The Secret Garden

by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Questors Youth Theatre at the Judi Dench Playhouse, Ealing until 28^thFebruary

Review by Polly Davies

Alex Marker’s audacious adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s much loved children’s novel proved to be a perfect way to showcase the talented members of the Questors’ Youth Theatre. The amuse bouche performance by the younger members of this group provided plenty of reassurance that there is a good supply of talent and enthusiasm in the wings of this youthful theatre company.

As a fan of the novel, I had doubts that this story could be successfully adapted for the stage, and the promise in programme notes of a large cast including three Marys was worrying. But in practice this device worked extraordinarily well. Eloise Pringle, Advika Nair and Annabelle Dee were convincing as they showed the different emotions Mary experienced as she adjusted to the move from a privileged but emotionally bare life in India to the unfamiliar large gloomy house in Yorkshire. The play, as in the novel, is an overwhelmingly positive one, demonstrating that loneliness and unhappiness can be transformed by embracing nature and friendship. The story charts this journey. Mary is seen in India, virtually forgotten as a cholera outbreak devastates her neglectful family and the servants in their household who had looked after her. After a brief sojourn with a clergyman’s family, she is shipped back to a reluctant uncle in remotest Yorkshire. While still in India her loneliness is emphasised by the way a chorus of children taunt her. This chorus is a recurring theme whenever she is at her most vulnerable.

Back in Yorkshire her uncle, sympathetically played by Sean Keogh-Smith, is still in deep mourning after the death of his beautiful young wife; the household is organised around this grief and their preoccupation on the news of the arrival of an orphaned niece is how to contain the disruption. A stellar performance by Charlotte Green as Mrs Medlock, the harsh, but sympathetic housekeeper, showcased the work of Dotti Lawson, as Dialect Coach. Hats off to the whole cast whose accents throughout were pitch perfect. To this southerner Charlotte’s Yorkshire accent was perfect, as was that of Billy Adcock, Noa Eloise Archer, and Noah Christi whose accents were suitably broader as gardener, housemaid and village lad. These three befriended Mary and showed her the beauty of the nature around the house, and slowly the allure of the plants and the animals to be found in the garden calmed and softened her character. In turn her friendship with her sad and sickly cousin brought him up from happiness and joy. Orton White made Colin’s recovery seem credible, and there were some lovely cameos by members of the ensemble as porters, servants, a clergyman-valet, doctor, and Martha’s mum.

The multi-talented Alex Marker directed this play at a fast pace and, although the story is a happy one, there was plenty of tension all through as the children’s discovery of joy in what was a forbidden garden, was so at odds with the mood of the household, there was always a risk of discovery and disapproval. I really enjoyed the processions of laundry maids, who made such a convincing show of a busy household, and from the odd bits of Yorkshire dialect thrown in were clearly part of the working members of the house. Out in the garden puppeteers brought birds and animals to life.

Alex’s set design was inspired. A few wooden frames serving convincingly as doors or corridors. Living pictures told their own stories, plinths provided a space for ghosts to come and go to remind the living of significant events in the past, and the turntable gate into the secret garden worked without a hitch. The combination of a complex, frequently and rapidly re-arranged set, scurrying laundry maids, a chorus that could turn into a train when needed, and a fast-paced plot must be a director’s nightmare, but the superbly disciplined young actors were faultless and the pace meant the story could retain its nuance.

Young voices don’t always carry so well and so I was glad to be there on an evening when captions were shown on the side. But excellent lighting and sound, costumes that convincingly turned young actors into weathered gardeners, sophisticated ladies, and village kids completed an enchanting evening.

Polly Davies, February 2026

Photography by Jamie Gould